


Definitely Helping

by chaya



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-29 23:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15084494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaya/pseuds/chaya
Summary: Someone asked for Kiri comforting Caleb after a nightmare. Bite-sized.





	Definitely Helping

Caleb’s leg makes an aborted move to kick outwards, and he wakes up with a jolt because it feels like someone is holding it down.

Struggling in the low light and unfamiliar space, he sits up, pushing against a strange amount of weight to look around. The dim light lets him see enough to remember: the abandoned dwarf mines. They found a barracks and decided to barricade the two entrances to get some rest.

Caleb looks down and does not remember falling asleep on _nearly_ this many blankets.

Something is clicking along the flagstone floor. With just the two torches on the other side of the room flickering, Caleb can make out a shape of something… a huge snail? No, it’s Kiri, carrying a blanket that’s trailing behind her.

Caleb’s not sure what is going on until Kiri reaches the side of his bed, notices he’s awake, and decides to add this new blanket to the pile anyway.

“Kiri,” he whispers, knowing the rest of the team is probably still asleep. It feels like 4 in the morning or so.

“ _Hello, sleepy head._ ” She quietly mimics Jester as she stands on tip toe to smooth out the corners of this new blanket on top of what must already be… four? He slept through that?

“I’m okay, Kiri, I’m not cold.” His voice is croaking a little as he says it. She tilts her head.

“ _Shiverin’,_ ” Kiri says, in Fjord’s baritone. When Caleb doesn’t respond, she reaches out and gently takes his upper arm in her tiny hand, wiggling it back and forth.

Caleb thinks back to what woke him up, kicking in his sleep. He was trembling. Shivering. Definitely being some kind of a mess, regardless. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m okay. I promise. …did I wake you up?”

In the dark, Kiri’s silhouette shakes her head several times, and she seems to look around her before leaning in to whisper something. Caleb frowns and lays back on his elbows to move his ear to her beak.

“ _Hnnnkkk_ ,” Kiri says quietly, and it’s a startling and almost boar-like sound that was definitely much louder when she heard it. Caleb leans away and frowns at her.

“That sound woke you up?” He looks around. “Did it… was it coming from the other side of one of the doors?” Should he wake up the others?

Kiri shakes her head again and points to one of the beds on the other side of the room. Caleb squints and tries to figure out which lump is which person, but he didn’t pay attention as he collapsed a few hours ago and the low light is no help. Caleb is about to ask who it is when the sound happens again, louder, gone as quick as it came. A very large shape rolls over on one of the beds and mumbles a few times. Fjord.

“ _Oskar_ ,” Kiri whispers in Jester’s voice.

“Ah. Just snoring.” Caleb smiles a little. “He is okay.”

“ _Are you okay?_ ” Molly’s voice now, lilting and quiet.

“Yes, yes, I am nice and cozy now. Danke schoen.”

“ _Bitte schoen,_ ” Kiri replies in Caleb’s voice, and Caleb is reminded that he can get used to just about any mimicry but that. He twitches a little and nods, watching the dark bird shape shuffle away, to an adjacent bed. She climbs back on, fusses with the large pile of blankets, and wiggles her way back into the center like it was a large, woolen nest.

The visual is strangely comforting. Caleb lays back down, rolling to his side, waiting until Kiri is probably asleep again before discreetly pushing most of his blanket pile off of him. After a few moments, he throws an arm across the bundle of fabric, hugging it to his chest and letting out a deep sigh.


End file.
